What Steven Yeun Would Have Looked Like As Marvel's Sentry For Thunderbolts

It's no secret that Steven Yeun came within inches of playing the "Thunderbolts*" character Sentry. While his casting was never official, remarks from the actor confirm that he had indeed agreed to be in the film. However, Yeun exited "Thunderbolts*" before production kicked off due to the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes of 2023 pushing back the shoot's start time, causing a conflict in Yeun's crowded schedule. The role of Sentry was ultimately played by rising Hollywood star Lewis Pullman, who knocked it out of the park, but Yeun was apparently in the running for long enough that concept art of him as Sentry was produced by Marvel.

Official concept art of Steven Yeun as Sentry in 'THUNDERBOLTS*' pic.twitter.com/T92uB0ChoJ

— New Avengers News (@NewAvengersNews) May 4, 2025

Leaked by New Avengers News on X, the concept art features Yeun in full Sentry mode, looking out into the middle distance with authority. He sports golden and navy-colored armor, a large belt bearing the Sentry insignia, a royal blue cape, and he has shaggy blond hair. Despite being very blurry, it's quite the striking image, and it's been independently confirmed as official.

While Marvel fans will never get to see Yeun become Sentry, Bob, or even The Void (unless the studio pulls off some multiversal shenanigans down the line), they still have plenty of opinions regarding what his take on the character could have brought to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, we at Looper created our own take of Yeun as Sentry, inspired by "Thunderbolts*." 

Marvel fans who congregate at the Marvel Studios subreddit have mixed emotions about the notion of Steven Yeun dropping the role of Sentry. "I'm a big fan of Steven, and I'm sure he could have been great. But man, Lewis Pullman was just so, so good I find it hard to imagine someone else doing it," u/HomsarWasRight remarked. The general consensus is that, while Yeun was great casting, everything worked out in the end. "I just know Steven Yeun could have knocked this role out of the park too. I'm glad Lewis Pullman managed to step in and just own it as well," said u/gerardatron, who added that Pullman actually looks similar to Yeun in certain scenes. "Must be the eyebrows? The jaw? IDK. Must just be me and a few friends who also mentioned it."

The discussion over Yeun's lost version of Sentry may have been very different had Pullman not done such a fantastic job. If Sentry wound up being a disappointment and "Thunderbolts*" tanked, it would have no doubt become one of those one-that-got-away scenarios.

How does Yeun feel about all this? In an interview with Variety, he revealed that he didn't take dropping out of the film lightly. "It took a lot of drafts on email to make sure that I conveyed the sincerity of how sorry I was to have to back out," he said. He added that he would love to play a Marvel character in the future, but wouldn't reveal which one he had in mind. "I have some ideas. But I heard if you put it out there, you'll never get it, so I'll keep it close to my chest." Hopefully he gets to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe at some point and all this becomes a footnote in MCU history.